In the Dark

Part Twenty: Attack of the Chimera

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: As always, plot is mine, characters are not. They're used without permission. Don't steal, don't sue. Thanks! ^_^

***

Night had almost fallen on the palace, forcing the candles to be lit or work to be finished. Koushiro, whose dark lab in the basement was nearly always without sunlight, barely noticed the change from day to night. He was buried in a thick book and so as oblivious to the passage of time as he was to the knocking on his door.

Tentomon, half-sleeping atop one of the bookshelves, alerted his partner, and the wizard reluctantly put aside his reading and made his way through the piles of books to answer the door. He was surprised to find Jun on the other side, looking concerned, worried, and anxious. Alraumon, her plant-like partner, hovered behind her with a worried expression that he presumed was directed toward Jun.

"I'm hoping you can help me, Koushiro," she stated without preamble, following him into the basement room. "I don't know what to say."

"Help you with what?" Koushiro questioned. He stepped nimbly around a pile of books without hardly noticing them and lifted another pile off a chair near the fireplace.

"Thank you," Jun said, taking the seat. She looked around the room as though she might find answers there. "I don't know where to begin," she admitted.

"Start with the letter," Alraumon advised, poking her partner slightly with one of her vine-like fingers.

"Letter?" Koushiro echoed. He set the pile of books down on another pile and exchanged glances with Tentomon, who shrugged absently.

Jun nodded, holding out a paper she'd clutched in her hand for the past two hours. "My brother sent me this," she explained. "Of course, you'd know that. You delivered it."

"A letter worries you?" Tentomon wondered, taking to the air and landing on a tall stack of books closer to eye level.

"No, no. What's in the letter worries me," she corrected. "I – don't know how to explain."

"What's written in the letter?" Koushiro questioned. He injected his voice with a patient tone, and took a seat himself. Already, he could see this might take a while.

Jun sighed, took a deep breath, and then began: "As I'm sure you know, Daisuke and Ken were very close, for many years, and he's been…well, upset…by what's happened." She paused, uncertain again.

The wizard nodded, prompting her to continue.

"Well, it had occurred to me – and to Daisuke – that we should do something to inform Lady Ichijouji," she explained. "I don't know what official explanation has been sent to her, but surely, she has to know something. Daisuke wanted to go himself, to explain things, to maybe get some explanation. Unfortunately, that hasn't been possible."

"No," Koushiro sighed. "We've been kept quite busy. I was lucky to come here."

Jun nodded, more in acknowledgement than comprehension, and went on. "At any rate, he thought it might be best if I went and talked to her myself. I don't know Lady Ichijouji very well – neither does Daisuke and neither, I think, does Ken. Did Ken. I don't know how quite to refer to him." She sighed, took another breath, and forced herself onward. "I don't really know what to say to her," she admitted finally. "I don't know how to explain what's happened or to make her understand."

The wizard leaned back in his chair and put a hand to his chin in a thoughtful expression. "I'm not sure how to explain either, Jun, and that's what makes it so difficult. I'm not sure that even Ichijouji knows or understands what's happened."

"You must have some idea, though," she interrupted, half-pleading. "It doesn't make sense that suddenly, he's evil, he's powerful, and dark. It won't make sense to Lady Ichijouji, either."

Koushiro was silent for a period before he answered. "The best explanation that we can give is that he's being controlled," he admitted, and suddenly recalled an exhausted early morning a few months before. "Do you remember," he asked, "the demon that appeared just before the King was destroyed?"

Jun thought deeply for a moment, thinking back to a night that she'd had difficulty recalling the morning after. She'd been exhausted – and she hadn't even fought – and she didn't understand completely what had happened. She vaguely remembered a large, dark creature appearing from nowhere. "Maybe…," she answered.

"I don't know if you recall, though I'm certain your brother does, but the creature was called Demon, and from what I've been able to gather – which isn't much – he's at the core of dark magic and darkness in general. And he had a particular interest in Ken." Frowning thoughtfully, Koushiro began to try to recall the events of that night and early morning.

***

The snow was a bit crisper under Hikari's feet when they left Primary Village. The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, and the temperature – already quite low to begin with – had dropped even lower. Rather than the slow, casual walk they'd taken earlier, the trip back was more hurried.

When the cabin was in view, Hikari slowed her speed. She wasn't in much of a hurry to return, and only the cold and the threat of night forced her to keep moving her feet at all. She wrapped her arms around her, shivering slightly, and wished it wasn't cold.  "I wish," she said, softly, so softly that the silence wasn't broken and Daisuke didn't turn a puzzled glance her way.

She stopped her feet, despite herself, and felt a quiver of some sort of dread run down her spine. She shook her head, telling herself it was only the cold causing her to shiver, but couldn't make her feet move again.

"Hikari? What's wrong?" Daisuke questioned. This time, she wasn't listening to the silence, even he could be certain of that. "What is it?"

"I don't know," she answered, her voice little more than a whisper. "Something…."

Inwardly, she guessed Daisuke was berating himself for telling V-mon and Tailmon to stay in the cabin. Even their presence would have reassured her. She tightened her arms, her hold upon herself. "I can't explain it," she apologized, softly.

He took a step closer to her, obviously confused by the sudden fear. She felt it so tangibly that it must surely be spilling out of her mind, heart, and body into the rest of the forest, the rest of the world. "If we go back inside, we'll be safe," he said after a moment.

She turned then, looked at him, and felt a slight break in the fear she felt, the fear that had come on so suddenly. "Are you certain?"

He nodded, grinned in a way that she knew displayed false confidence, but was reassuring at the same time. "Positive," he said, brightly, and she knew that behind that he was concerned, worried, though more for her than himself.  Hikari took a step towards him, hoping that his mere presence would drive off the fear.

And then they heard the roar, the crashing of trees that split the silence in two and brought Hikari's fears into full view.

The giant creature flew, with two sets of giant wings, over the treetops. It made no noise but a loud, screeching, angry roar. Daisuke couldn't wrap his mind around what, precisely, the creature was, but could tell by the way it was flying directly toward them that it wasn't friendly.

A blast of fire accompanied the next roar, setting the upper parts of the trees on fire and lighting the forest. Within the cabin, only a short distance away, there was a commotion, and noises could be heard.

Hikari could only stare, her mind as numb as her cold toes as the flying monster let loose another breath of fire, alighting the top of the cabin.

***

Miyako was completely absorbed in her book when the first of a series of screeching calls broke the silence and startled all within hearing distance. Caught off guard, she wobbled a bit on the rafters, but managed not to fall.

"What was that?"

"Sounded dangerous, whatever it was," Jyou answered, and immediately made his way to the shelves on the wall that held the medical supplies.

Takeru let the mostly unfinished table fall to the ground and began dressing to go outside. "Stay in here where it's safer then," he said to Jyou. "Come on, Patamon."

"I'm coming, too," Iori put in, already having folded his map project and beginning to put on his own winter clothes.

"I'll be right behind you," Miyako added, having regained her balance. The door had just shut after them when the second roar once more caused her to nearly fall.

"Miyako…," Hawkmon said in a voice that sounded a bit like a warning.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she answered, brushing aside his concerns. "Haven't fallen yet."

Her feathered partner shook his head. "No. Look above you."

With a bit of apprehension, Miyako turned her head to face directly upward. The roof, made of sturdy logs like the rest of the cabin, was but a short distance above her head. For a moment, she didn't quite comprehend what there was to be seen. Then, just above her head, a flash of an orange colored something caught her eye.

"Fire!" she yelled, forgetting her magical training and every one of the battles she'd been in and screaming in pure fear. Panicking, Miyako scrambled as quickly as she could down from the rafters, not pausing until she was on solid ground. "Do something!" she ordered, half squealing.

"Do what?" Gomamon echoed blankly, and she turned to see the white digimon staring at her with a vacant expression.

"Can't you do something?" Tailmon interrupted, yawning. She'd been dozing near one of the stoves before the commotion, which had interrupted her sleep. Now it was Miyako's turn to stare blankly.

"With magic?" V-mon added, watching the flames with some amount of interest.

***

Even with coat, boots, gloves, scarf, and hat, Takeru felt the chill of winter immediately after stepping outside the cabin. Or perhaps the chill that ran down his spine was caused by the ear-splitting screech that shook the forest.

"Look!" Patamon shouted when the noise had faded. "The trees are on fire!"

"I think that thing might be the cause of it," Iori said, pointing in another direction, where a monstrous creature was flying directly toward them, fire appearing to spew from its open jaws.

"I think it might be cause of us running out of the way, too," Armadimon advised, already making his way toward the forest.

***

"I don't know how to stop a fire!" Miyako answered. "I can start one, but I haven't a clue how to stop one."

"Maybe that wind spell?" Hawkmon asked, but Gomamon disagreed.

"That will only spread the flames. What we need is a spell that can create water. Or rain. Don't you know any weather spells?"

Miyako shook her head. "I know very few spells. I can start a fire, I can produce a shield – albeit a weak shield, and I can use that wind spell. That's three. I've only been aware of my magic for a few months. There wasn't time to learn spells."

"Fine time for Koushiro to go away," Jyou muttered.

Tailmon had been silent during this period and slipped off to one of the back "rooms." Curious, V-mon had followed her, wondering if she had some sort of plan. Now both returned, carrying a book between them. "Might this help?" the feline digimon questioned.

Miyako frowned in thought and took the book from them. "It has many spells," she answered, flipping through the pages quickly.

***

There was a long moment of silence before Hikari was able to speak, and in that long moment, Daisuke grabbed her hand and pulled her behind a tree, instinctively trying to get them out of the creature's line of sight. This action was nearly as surprising as the appearance of the creature, and so Hikari didn't protest.

"What is that thing?" he questioned, peering around the edge of the trunk, silently berating himself yet again for leaving their partners in the cabin.

Hikari shook her head, peering around the opposite side. "I don't know," she answered, surprised to find her voice functioning. "Does it work for Ken?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know what it is. The wings, the legs…." He trailed off.

"They look as though they belong to different pieces of other digimon," Hikari finished. "Is that possible? Is it possible that Ken created it?"

"I don't know," Daisuke repeated. "Koushiro would have some sort of theory – an idea. I can't imagine what the magic is capable of. Creating something like that? Perhaps."

***

"Can we fight it?" Takeru asked. "Should we even try? I've never seen anything like it before."

"Neither have I," Patamon put in.

"Nor I," Armadimon added.

"We have to try," Iori insisted. "Otherwise it may burn down the cabin." He turned his gaze toward the log building they'd called home and watched as the flames slowly spread over the roof.

Takeru shook his head. "Why don't they get out? Don't they notice the flames?"

The younger Chosen shrugged, and pulled his digivice from his pocket. "Digimental up!" he called.

A bright light made seeing anything impossible for a moment. "Armadimon armor evolve!" his partner called, and then the light faded. "Digmon!"

Takeru frowned, wondering if they had even a chance, but reached in his own pocket. "Digimental up!"

"Patamon armor evolve! Pegasmon!"

***

"That looks promising," Tailmon commented.  Miyako had set the book on the makeshift table Iori had been using as a desk and was flipping through the pages quickly.

"A water spell," Gomamon said, noticing the drawings of water. "Might work."

"I hope it's not too much water, though," Hawkmon put in cautiously.

"Can't be too much if it puts out the fire," V-mon stated, glancing upward toward the roof. The fire was slowly spreading across the wood.

"That I agree with," Jyou decided. "Do that spell, if you can, and then we'll deal with cleaning up the water afterward."

Another roar came from outside just then. "And I can go help Takeru and Iori with whatever is causing that," Miyako added, reading over the words to the spell.

***

"Since we cannot fight it, it might be best for us to get to safety." Hikari spoke cautiously, because she knew that the idea of retreating from a fight was not one that Daisuke was usually open to.

He wasn't now, and she could tell this by the expression on his face, which was one of great reluctance. "And leave the cabin to burn?" he questioned, gesturing toward the fire, which had spread across the roof.

Hikari shook her head. "What could either of us do to help?" she returned. Below, two bright lights flashed in quick succession as both Patamon and Armadimon evolved to begin fighting the enemy. "I doubt we could make it to our partners, and without them, we're defenseless."

For a moment, there was silence, and they both watched grimly as Pegasmon and Digmon began to battle the unidentified monster. Takeru, safely in the air aboard his partner, was orchestrating aerial attacks aimed mainly at the creature's upper body. Iori, in a more vulnerable position on the ground, was directing Digmon to aim for the legs and feet in an effort to topple the monster.  Though some progress was being made, a victory wasn't a certainty.

"Where's Miyako?" Daisuke questioned, suddenly realizing who was absent from the conflict.

"Probably at this very moment learning a spell that will douse the flames," Hikari answered after a moment of thought. "They'll be fine, Daisuke. If we jump to help them then we'll only get ourselves hurt and maybe put them in more danger."

***

Creating water from pure nothing took a fairly great amount of magic, and the style of the spell was nothing that Miyako had ever attempted before, on her own or with the help of her mentor. She puzzled over the words for a long moment, trying to make sense of the complex hand movements. Like most magic books, it was extraordinarily unhelpful for learning spells, but very helpful for cataloguing ones that were already mastered, but tedious to memorize.

With Jyou and the four digimon looking on, Miyako read the spell over five times before she dared attempt. Again, she wished Koushiro had not left.

As with the spells she had tried before, the first step was simply to strengthen the aura of the spell-caster. This was a task that Miyako had mastered long before, and completed it with ease. The next step involved manipulating the aura in the correct direction, which was also fairly easy.

The step after that was the difficult one. It involved converting the energy-based aura into a liquid form that very closely resembled water. An easier spell involved using the aura to channel water from a nearby source – such as an ocean or lake – but the only water nearby was in frozen form as snow.

Converting the aura to liquid was much more difficult than simply creating the spark of fire or expanding it to create a shield or even coaxing the wind into levitation or message-carrying. The spell required Miyako to move her fingers in new and complex ways the likes of which she hadn't known were quite possible before that moment. But she managed them, and although the movements were clumsy, she sensed that they were producing the desired result.

From nowhere, it seemed, a drop of water fell on the roof, and then another. Before long, many drops were falling on the raging flames, and then many more, until it was no longer many drops, but a continuous stream, drowning the fighting fire in a deluge of water that came not from the sky or anywhere else, but from magic and from Miyako's own will.

Soon, the cabin was no longer ablaze, but simply smoking, tiny tendrils of smoke lifting from the top of the cabin and rising toward the clouds.

***

The sun had completely dropped from the sky, leaving only the moon and the stars as light. The moon was bright and the clouds were few, but the woods were frightening at night even with that help. 

"Are you certain we're going in the right direction?" Hikari questioned, panting slightly, when they paused for breath.

"No," Daisuke admitted, frowning at the surroundings. "It feels warmer, and I think that's a bad sign."

"Warmer? That could mean we're heading toward the desert. That would be bad."

"Very bad," he agreed. "We're supposed to be heading to safety. I doubt the desert is safe. It is, however, warmer, and then we won't freeze."

"Let's try turning around then, and heading in the opposite direction."

***

"Hawkmon armor evolve! Holsmon!"

The giant bird soared smoothly over the cabin and caught sight of the monstrous creature. If it had been in an unpleasant mood before, it was very angry now, and it was lashing out, swinging its powerful arms, each one narrowly missing a collision with Takeru and Pegasmon. Flames spewed from its jaws, which Iori and Armadimon narrowly avoided.

"Miyako, look out!" Takeru shouted. Pegasmon flew toward the ground to avoid one swinging arm, and then higher, and the other arm was heading directly toward Miyako.

Holsmon dodged easily, and Miyako pressed herself flat against her partner's feathers as he flew higher, above the creature. But the creature could fly as well, and so it was useless to try to avoid him that way.

"I don't think we've got much of a chance against him," Iori called from the ground, where he and Digmon were taking shelter behind a large boulder.

"Maybe we might if Hikari and Daisuke were here," Takeru noted. He looked around, searching for the missing members of their team. "But you're right, Iori, he's too powerful."

"We don't even know what he is!" Miyako agreed. "But where do we run to?"

***

They'd changed direction many times, but the temperature had continued to rise, and when Hikari and Daisuke emerged from the trees, they could see the moon clearly across the vast expanse of desert.

"I get the feeling we couldn't avoid coming here," Hikari sighed, leaning against a tree. "But why?"

"Some sort of magic?" he wondered, sinking himself down into the sand. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Now what?"

"Now," said a voice neither recognized, "you die."

***

Erm…. Ah Yes, the clichéd cliffhanger ending. Joy.

This story begins to come to a close, finally. ^_^;;; Admittedly, I could have written more in this chapter, but it would have taken more time, and I wanted to keep the time in between chapters down to a minimum. Don't know how well I'll succeed at that, but I'll try.

Anyway, enjoy, thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, and come back for the next part! Till then, ja ne! ^_^